


Rogue's Romance

by DoctorMerlinReid



Series: Gone Rogue [2]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-05-25 23:30:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14987921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorMerlinReid/pseuds/DoctorMerlinReid
Summary: The evolution of Dick and Wally's relationship. A side story to "Rogue's Status"





	1. Chapter 1

WWWWWW

"Am I supposed to dress this fancy?" Wally asked anxiously.

Hartley clucked his tongue at him, "If you told me where you were going, I'd be able to properly answer you. I'm working with what I have right now."

Wally scowled, "Well, I don't know either. He said that it was going to be a surprise, but that I should dress nice. That's the only answer I got. Don't blame me!"

Cameron called out from his spot on the bed, "Don't mind him, Hartley. Wally's just nervous because he's going on his first date. He's worried that he's going to screw things up right from the get-go. Poor street kid turned supervillain going on a date with a superhero who won't tell him his identity. He's worried that everything that could possibly go wrong would go wrong."

"First of all," Wally said, glaring at his friend, "That's incredibly  _not helpful_. Second of all, if I didn't know you and your peculiar brand of awkward, that would have sounded so mean." He glanced at himself in the mirror, watched as Hartley held an outfit up against him as he stood there. It was simple with small little accents that made it Wally's. It was a plain white dress shirt (Wally had protested against that, certain that he was going to spill something on himself, but Hartley wouldn't hear any different) and black slacks. His socks, completely covered by the pants and nice black shoes, were physics themed, covered in little equations that only made sense to a very small number of people. His cuff links were little lightning bolts. When he'd first gotten them for Christmas, he'd been mildly offended because that was the Flash's symbol, but they ended up growing on him. He may not be associated with the Flash (the opposite, actually), but he was still a speedster and he had gotten his powers from the explosive power of lightning and his own powers left trails of lightning behind him when he ran. Lightning was an essential part of who he was.

Cameron ignored him, staring at his phone and laughing, "This site on dating advice says, 'Brush your teeth, bad breath will make us think that you have a rotten soul and it's trying to escape out of your mouth.' That's so apt right now."

Wally glared at him, expression flat and unamused. He opened his mouth to say something, but James chirped, "Have you brushed your teeth, Wally?" before he got the chance to speak.

Sighing, Wally closed his eyes and resisted the urge to pinch his nose only because Hartley was still holding ties up to Wally's chest and Wally really didn't want to accidently get in the older teen's way at the moment.

"Okay, okay. I've got this! I found this website with eleven steps that will make sure that you get her – er, well, I'm just going to assume it counts both ways, so, him – to agree to that second date. Let's see, be normal. You're screwed there. Um, be on time? We might be able to manage that one if Hartley stops hen-picking your appearance." Cameron neatly dodged the projectile that Hartley threw at him, but James was not so fortunate. He was beaned in the forehead and knocked off the bed. He didn't seem to be getting back up again. Cameron kept going, "Dress well and take pride in your appearance. I think it's going to be impossible to not be dressed well at this point. You got to take pride in it! Are you proud? We'll figure that out later. Okay, have a well-designed date. Pretty sure that's your boyfriend's purview at this point since he's planning it. Skipping! Barely let her in the plan. Also under your boyfriend's responsibilities. You're the girl in this relationship now, in case you were wondering. Compliment him. I'm assuming you have something to compliment him on since you decided to date him. Have a conversation. Meaning, don't just talk about yourself. That'll be hard for you. The only things you know how to talk about are yourself and science, which is lame."

"Is there anything actually useful in here?" Hartley growled, poking Wally when he started to slump.

Wally resisted the urge to put his head in his hands, "Why did I let you guys in here while I was trying to get ready for a date?"

Cameron kept going, heedless, "Prepare your first date questions and conversation starters. You two used to text a lot, right? I'm sure you can get something in there to help you think of conversations. And if you freeze, you can just slow down time until you think of something else. There, that was useful. Happy? Let's see… know when to go for the first date kiss. I mean, you guys have already kissed, so… still counts? I mean, don't pressure him and don't let him pressure you. Land a second date. I feel like one of the steps to landing a second date shouldn't be landing a second date. I don't know. I feel like that's kind of redundant. The last one just says to keep in touch, which I'm sure the two of you can manage. The whole texting thing again."

"I hate my life." Wally moaned as Hartley discarded another tie.

Hartley glanced upwards at him, something almost pitying flashing across his face before he gave a put-upon sigh and said, "Look, Wally. It's going to be harder for you than it would be if you were with a stranger. When good friends try to go for a relationship, it's harder because they feel like something should be different in their conversations, in their actions. They push too hard for romance. They forget that the reason they fell in love with each other was because of their friendship. This is just a conversation between two good friends with romantic undertones. You're on your first date. It doesn't have to be ridiculously romantic when you already know each other. The romance part will come with time, let the friendship carry you there."

Blinking, Wally nodded, "That's… surprisingly good advice. Speaking from personal experience?"

"He's speaking from experience reading his fan fiction!" James chirped, magically on the bed again. Wally twisted around slightly to stare incredulously at James. The kid was a  _ninja_  when he wanted to be.

Hartley turned bright red, " _James_!" The whole room laughed. Hartley sighed loudly and threw down the ties in disgust, "You're going without a tie. I can't find one that works. Now, are you two meeting at the restaurant or are you meeting somewhere else? He's not coming here, is he?"

"No, of course not. Who do you think I am? There's no way I'm going to burn a safe house this early in our relationship. And we're meeting at the park where we met each other. I figure he's going to take me through the zeta beam since I already know where it is. Maybe bring me somewhere in Gotham? Or somewhere else? We could literally go on a date pretty much anywhere in the world between the two of us." Wally answered, affronted at the beginning, but more musing by the end.

Squinting, Hartley looked his outfit up and down for a moment before tilting his head side to side, "You need a jacket. If you're meeting outside in January, then you definitely need a jacket. And yes, I know that you're wearing long sleeves and an undershirt. I don't care. If you don't get cold, then at the very least he's going to get cold and it'll be romantic to give him your jacket. Or you'll be even warmer if he wants to lean into your side as you walk or something."

"Really?" Cameron asked, leaning forward on his stomach.

"Oh, so now you're interested in my dating advice?" Hartley asked scathingly.

Cameron frowned and shifted slightly, "Pretty sure you're the only one in this group who's actually gone on a date before. That pretty much makes you the expert."

"I've gone on dates! I have! Me!" James yelled, waving his hand in the air.

Cameron raised his eyebrows, "Seriously? How far you'd get?" He was smiling softly at the oldest teenager of their group. James shrugged and winked, and Cameron started laughing, clutching his stomach and falling back on the bed. James beamed down at him, happy to have gotten someone smiling. Wally smiled back at his family, glad to be able to say that with out the instinctive anger and fear and frustration. He was glad to be able to be here with these people, glad to have people help him through his first date, glad to have a first date in the first place.

Sure, the family was dorky and stupid, and they got in way too many fights. They were in desperate need of a woman's touch in all of their houses. They were so illegal it wasn't even funny (like, several life sentences per person, illegal). They were messed up and broken and a complete mess. They were the best family Wally could have asked for.

Hartley murmured quietly, "You're getting an unbearably sappy expression on your face." Wally gave a small smile and a huff of a laugh before looking back at himself in the mirror. Hartley continued softly, "I know the feeling. It takes a little bit of getting used to. Everything feels normal and then, next thing you know, you're abruptly reminded that this is your  _family_  and you can finally think fondly on that word. You're reminded that these people care about you in a way that not even  _you_  care about you. I'll be honest and say that even when you get used to it, the feelings never fade. There will always be moments when you'll look around you and be surprised that this is your family."

"I'm not sure I'd want the feeling to fade either way." Wally said, just as softly.

He and Hartley shared a smile before Hartley stepped back a little bit and patted him on the shoulder, "Looks like you're ready to go. And before you even say anything, you are  _not_  running there. I worked hard on this appearance and you are not screwing it up. Get one of the adults to go drive you."

"What? So they can complain about having to drive me and make fun of me about my first date all in one go? That sounds like a fabulous idea. Really, I'm impressed." Wally said archly.

Hartley rolled his eyes, "Idiot." He didn't grace them with any more of an answer, instead stalking out of the room and towards his own.

After a second, James chirped, "I'm going to go with him. Have fun on your date!" And then he was gone, disappearing down the hallway.

Wally turned to Cameron and did a full circle, arms out, "What do you think?"

"I think I'm happy for you. I think I'm happy for me too. And so thankful that you brought me here." Cameron said in a moment of seriousness.

Trying to adopt a sarcastic smile, Wally realized that the only thing he could do was grin at his friend and go for a hug. Cameron rolled his eyes, but he was clinging just as tightly to Wally as Wally was to him. Wally whispered, "We got out, together. We did it. You're a Rogue now and we're going to treat you right. We're your family now."

"You think I'm going to be adopted too at some point?" Cameron asked, a laugh in his voice, but a serious glint in his eyes.

Wally nodded back, just as serious, "I'm starting to sense a pattern. They'll wait until you're comfortable and then they'll find some way to make sure that you're ready. They'll track down your family members and get guardianship transferred to them."

"How did you know you were ready? To let go of your family?" Cameron asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure it's the same between the two of us. I was always ready to let go of my family. That was never the problem. My problem was that I wasn't ready to get a new one. You've got the opposite problem. I think you'd have to talk to one of the others about that." Wally answered with a wince. His family had never  _really_  been a family. It hadn't been all that much of a hardship to let go. Sure, there were times when he wondered where his mother was. There were times when he reminisced on the times before he'd realized that what his parents were doing was wrong. There were times he desperately missed the feeling of warmth he'd had with Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris. But there were never times that he regretted finding his own way in the world. It led him here and he was never going to complain about that.

Letting out a little sigh, Cameron nodded and stepped back, "Okay, I get that. Anyways, you better get going. You're going to be late for your date at this point!"

"Fashionably late!" Wally called as he started out the door.

Cameron called back, "It's never fashionable when you're on a date! Apparently! That's was the website said!"

Wally laughed as he went down the stairs as quickly as he could without potentially ruining the work that Hartley had done. Digger glanced up as he made his way down the stairs, "For a bogan, you certainly clean up nice."

"For a what? What did you call me?" Wally asked, weaving through the living room and heading towards the kitchen where he was pretty sure Sam was.

Digger called back to him, "Look it up, mate! I'm not going to define all of my proper English for all you seppos!"

"Stop calling us weird names!" Mark called from the tool room where he was rigging something for a heist. Digger just chuckled and took a swig of his water.

Rolling his eyes, Wally headed further into the house, finding himself in the kitchen. Sam was in the process of recording a heist plan from Mick. He kept asking Mick to back up and repeat things which was making both of them short tempered. So, not only were they irritable, they were in the middle of something that couldn't be interrupted. Fantastic. Just Wally's luck. With the kid Rogues either not possessing a driver's license or not old enough for one, Mark, Mick, and Sam all working on heist things, and Digger immersed in his television show, Wally had to ask Len to drive him. Awesome. He was going to be not only be made fun of and subjected to Len's complaining, but he was also going to have to suffer through the riot act, lecturing him on not making a mess of the situation. Why was this his life?

Groaning, Wally dared to interrupt the two Rogues, "Hey, where's Len at?"

Mick glanced up and narrowed his eyes at Wally's appearance, "What are you dressed up for?"

Wally ignored him and turned pointedly to Sam who shrugged and muttered, "Probably in the backyard. Might be in the freezer. Said he wanted to do something with his gun, so both are viable locations."

"Thanks. Good luck on your heist!" Wally called as he made his way towards the freezer, which was closer.

Sam called back, "Thanks! Good luck on your date!"

Smiling, Wally got to the freezer and checked it, pulling it open. He barely dodged the blast of ice that came flying out at him. Wally put a hand to his chest and hissed, "If that was  _anyone_  but me, or maybe Cameron, that would have been practically lethal."

"It's a new formula. I was going to test it on whoever opened the door. Theoretically, it shouldn't be too dangerous, just inconvenient." Len drawled, glancing down at his gun.

Wally shook his head, "Unbelievable. Well, now that you've messed up my hair, want to drive me to my date?"

"Why would I drive you? Nevermind, I know the answer to that. Fine. Let me put my gun away properly. And maybe grab something warm. This parka is quite good at keeping out the chill, but even so, I was starting to get a little cool." Len muttered as he walked past Wally.

Staring incredulously, Wally asked, "Would you have just sat in that freezer for however long it took for someone to go get you? You know that the only one who would actually muster up the energy to go look for you would be Mick, and he would actually kill you if you shot him with your cold gun, right?" Len made a noncommittal sound and disappeared upstairs.

Wally shook his head in consternation. His family was unbelievable. And absolutely crazy. When did it become normal to talk about heists and get your adopted father (it was really, really weird to think about Len that way) out of the freezer? Wally supposed it never really became normal. He just became weird. Well, weirder.

Len came downstairs a moment later, dressed in a new parka, this one without the frost that had formed during a long stint in the huge freezer they owned. He motioned quickly towards the car and walked towards it with purpose, as if it was Wally who had made Len wait. Unbelievable. Wally couldn't help the way his lips curled up at the corners anyways.

DDDDDD

Dick twisted as he glanced at himself in the mirror. This was okay, right? Just the right level of fancy for the restaurant they were going to. He'd been nervous about the idea of bringing Wally to a fancy restaurant at all. It didn't entirely seem like their thing? Like, Dick knew that they didn't really have a thing. This was their first date. Still, their interactions had been at a park, at an old diner, and at the Cave. The Cave was where most of their interactions came from, but Wally was a prisoner there, so Dick really couldn't extrapolate data from that. There really was no way for him to tell how Wally would react to a fancy dinner. He hadn't said anything bad when Dick had mentioned that he should dress nice; he'd actually seemed excited. Had he ever even been to a fancy restaurant?

That was a sobering thought and, officially, not one that Dick was going to think about on date night. He did not need that thought weighing him down. If this was his first time, though, Dick was going to make it the best time. It was going to be wonderful and perfect and asterous and totally not whelming. He was good. It was good. Everything was good.

Roy's voice cut through his nerves, "Are you done preening?"

Dick scowled back at him through the mirror, "I have plenty of time for preening, thank you very much. And I have plenty to preen about." He sent Roy a smug smirk. The archer in question just rolled his eyes.

"You have managed to… how do you say it? Clean up nice?" Kaldur attempted awkwardly, lips quirking up in a little half smile at the laughs he received.

"Yeah, that's how you say it." Roy snorts, rolling his eyes.

Kaldur gets that little oh-so-innocent smirk that means he's about to be a troll before he asks, "And when will you be cleaned up nice for your first date with Cheshire?"

Roy turns as red as his uniform, blushing horribly. He coughs awkwardly into his palm and mutters, "We might have skipped the first date and went straight to third base."

"Aha! Told you! Training for baby making!" Dick shouts, victorious. He can vaguely hear a choking sound outside his door before the footsteps that had been passing by gained speed. Oops. Bruce probably didn't need to hear that.

Kaldur raises his eyebrows at Roy, at once impressed and slightly frustrated. Roy sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair, "Well, we were yelling at each other. About the whole, you know, clone thing." Dick did know, and he almost wished he didn't. It had been more than just a little shock to find out what Roy was. At the moment, the knowledge was kept between Cheshire, Wally, Kaldur, Dick, and Roy, but Dick felt like they were going to have to expand their membership a little further, soon. Cheshire was chasing down old Light haunts, Wally was networking like no one's business, and Kaldur, Dick, and Roy were leading their own search, but they weren't finding him. The original Roy was very well hidden. Roy continued after a minute pause, "Then, it was kind of like… she just up and pushed me against the wall and kissed me? It led to one thing and another. I'm pretty sure that's what's called 'angry sex', too. I don't know. But, I don't particularly mind, either. We've just kind of settled into this pattern. We eat our meals together and patrol together and we sleep together. She's gone a lot on her searches, but when she's home, she does little tasks around the apartment to neaten it up and organize it. I don't know. We haven't really made anything official, but neither of us really like talking about feelings, so it's not that surprising."

Dick's smile was a little softer, a lot more genuine when he responded, "Congratulations! I'm happy for you."

"As am I." Kaldur stated with a smile.

Dick grinned at the Atlantean, "Now, all we've got to do is get you a girl. Or boy. You do you."

"I am afraid that I am not ready to consider the idea of a romantic partner. I had truly believed that Tula was the one and I will need some time to recover from that." Kaldur gave them a sad smile before laughing slightly, "Besides, I am not sure that there is anyone that is even interested in pursuing a relationship with me."

Roy rolled his eyes, "As much as I'm loathe to say this, I think you've got a real chance with Artemis. I think you two might actually be good together. Again, I am very loathe to say that and it will not be repeated outside of this room."

Dick's brow furrowed, "Wait, as much as I'm all for Kaldur and Artemis getting together, are we sure that Artemis isn't dating Zatanna? Because, sometimes, it's kind of hard to tell."

"Nah, Zatanna's in a long distance relationship with some guy who calls himself Nick Necro up in New York. I heard her and Artemis talking about it when I was grabbing something from the kitchen one time." Roy said.

Dick frowned, "Huh, never would have guessed. Well, there you go, Kaldur! She's open for your attempts at a relationship!"

Kaldur gave him an indulging smile, "Alright, I will keep that in mind for further interactions. For the mean time, I suggest you finish up soon. We will have to depart quickly to reach the meeting point on time."

Dick glanced over at his clock in alarm. And yep, they had just wasted a ton of time talking about relationships. That was awkward. Quickly straightening his hair and settling his favorite pair of dark sunglasses over the bridge of his nose, Dick glanced at himself in the mirror, turning this way and that. He turned around, towards his friends, and asked, "Yes? No? Am I good?"

"You're good." Roy said, nodding his approval, expression serious to show that he was being genuine. Kaldur gave him the same response, a proud smile adorning his face.

"Okay. Okay, we're good. Let's go then. I've got my phone. Communicator is out because I will only be contacted for a serious emergency. Bruce knows where I'm going. You guys don't so you can't creepy stalk my first date. Alfred approved the restaurant and went ahead and made a reservation for me. I'm dressed. I've got my sunglasses. We're good. Golden."

"We are good." Roy agreed, standing up and stretching out.

He yawned, jaw cracking slightly as he did so. The three of them headed out of Dick's room and down the front stair case. Alfred and Bruce were waiting at the bottom of the steps. Bruce's expression was settled in a frown that Dick knew meant lecture. Sure enough, Bruce started as soon as Dick reached the bottom of the stairs, "You know to keep your glasses on at all times? And to not let him pressure you into anything? Make sure he doesn't steal anything while you're on your date. I will not allow this relationship to continue if that happens. You have the credit card and something to identify you as Freddie, the person who the reservation is for?"

"Yes, yes, got it, and yes. I'll be  _fine_ , Bruce." Dick groaned, darting in to give Bruce a quick hug before heading towards the front door.

Alfred sent him a quick, amused, proud smile and commented idly, "I believe what Master Bruce meant to say is that he is very proud of you and that he hopes your first date goes well."

"Thanks Alfred. And Bruce." Dick smiled widely, heading out the door with Roy and Kaldur flanking him, "I'll see you guys later tonight!"

The two of them waved to him from the door, talking quietly to each other about something or another (probably Dick, if he was being honest). Dick got into the car Roy had grudgingly borrowed from Oliver and they set off. Next step: his first date.


	2. Date

WWWWWW

Not surprisingly, Wally got to the park after Freddie. As Len pulled up in their old, beat up stalker van, Wally could see Roy and what looked like Aqualad in civvies sitting in the front seats of a fancy sports car. He really was lucky that he lived with who he lived with. If he hadn't been part of a supervillain family, he'd have probably been intimidated by the sports car. He was pretty sure that it wasn't Freddie's, but still that much money would have given him nerves if he'd still been a street rat. As it was, he'd stolen three times the amount of money it took to buy that car on the last heist he'd been on.

Which would not be a good comment to make. Keep conversations about stealing things to a minimum. No talking shop. Wally could do that.

"You okay, kid?" Len asked, eyebrow raised.

"What?" Wally asked, head shooting up, "Oh, yeah. Yep. Totally okay. We're good."

The other eyebrow raised, and Len pointed out, "You don't have to do this now. You've haven't been… back long and if he really cares about you, then I'm sure he would understand if you needed to do this another night."

Resisting the urge to sigh because he knew that Len was doing it out of a place of caring, Wally responded, "That's not what's got me freaked. It's normal first date jitters. That's it. Nothing that has to do with our messed up lives."

"Our?" Len asked archly, "I think you mean  _yours_."

"Yeah, right. Sure thing, Len. Anyways, thanks for driving me. I've got my phone on me like always.  _Please_  avoid calling me unless it's an emergency. I can run home. Hartley didn't want me messing up my outfit which is why I had you drive me." Wally said, watching the sports car, excitement curling in his veins like the sparks of lightning that lived there when he ran.

He could feel Len observing him from the side, but he ignored it in favor of continuing to watch the sports car. After a long (to Wally) moment, Len sighed and said, "Get out there and have fun, kid. You deserve it. Get back home at a legitimate time, though. You and I are doing a big heist together. It'll take at least two weeks of hard work to prepare for it starting tomorrow. If you're too tired from this date, there will be problems." Wally shivered a little bit at the icy threat in Len's voice, but tried not to show it. Everyone freaked out when he reacted like that, determined that they did something wrong.

Sending a nonchalant wave back after him to show that he'd heard, Wally made his way towards the sports car. As he watched, Freddie got out of the car, calling something back to his friends before standing there, leaning against the car and looking  _very_  dashing. Wally might almost say  _inviting_. Shaking his head, Wally reprimanded himself. It was way too early in their relationship to be thinking things like that.

Still, that didn't stop an interested smirk from taking over his features as Wally looked Freddie over before letting his eyes flick back up to Freddie's sunglasses, "I would have kissed you sooner if it meant I got to see you dressed like that more often."

Freddie immediately blushed and his friends started laughing from inside the car. The window rolled down and Roy leaned slightly out the window, jerking his chin in the direction of the Rogue family's still lingering van, "That your stalker van?"

Wally rolled his eyes, "Yeah. For some reason, Mick won't admit that it's a totally creepy stalker van and needs to go away immediately, so here we are. Driving a stalker van to a  _park_. With Len lingering like a creeper."

Freddie leveled a glare at his friends, "Yeah, well, he's not the only one hanging around like  _creepers_." Roy laughed and rolled the window back up, letting the car start to roll away as soon as Freddie leaned off the car. Rolling his eyes at his friends, Freddie reached over as casually as possible and caught Wally's hand, starting to lead him along a path, towards the spot where Wally remembered there to be a zeta beam.

Surprised (pleasantly so) at the easy contact, Wally stared at Freddie in shock. He couldn't comprehend how it was so uncomplicated, with such a lack of awkwardness, for Freddie to just hold his hand like this. Then Wally saw the younger teen's cheeks and how they were tinged darkly pink. It wasn't as easy as Freddie was trying to pull it off as. Well, Wally could play along and make it a little easier.

Now assured that Freddie was just as nervous as he was, Wally squeezed Freddie's hand and held it a little tighter, tugged it into a little bit more of a comfortable position in his hand. The boldness of the moment was made completely worth it when Freddie turned a blinding grin on him. Wally laughed at the look, a warm feeling settling in his chest, "So, where are we going?"

"Zeta beam. I'm going to bring you to my favorite up-scale restaurant in existence. It's in Bludhaven and is probably one of the only good things in the Bludhaven." Freddie chattered, warming up to his topic, "It's got the most magical chicken meals. I'm sure the rest are good, too, but I've never had them. I just eat chicken there, but I've had, like, seven different chicken meals from them. Also, they have this  _asterous_  macaroni and cheese."

"Wait," Wally said shaking his head and actually holding up a hand to forestall any more comments, "Wait, did you just say that this fancy restaurant has  _mac n' cheese_  on the menu?"

" _Yes_ ," Freddie said, almost reminding Wally of Gollum. Freddie waved his hands around as he explained, "And it's the most magical mac n' cheese that you will  _ever have_. They make it with Gouda cheese and they're this stuff that they bake on top and its basically ambrosia for the gods. Not even Agent A's mac n' cheese comes close to it. I have literally never had something that tasted better."

Tilting his head to the side and deciding to leave the Agent A comment alone until they knew each other a little better, Wally asked curiously, "Can you buy a meal of just macaroni and cheese?"

"I wish," Freddie pouted, cheeks puffed out and lower lip jutted at just the right angle to look adorable. Then Freddie sighed dramatically, "Unfortunately, that's a no. I would totally do it, though. I would pay  _extra_  to have that. I think we'd get weird looks from the wait staff, though. We're probably already going to get enough weird looks for being two teenaged boys eating dinner at a fancy restaurant in Bludhaven."

Wally snorted, "If I wasn't used to weird looks by now, there'd be a problem. I mean, you've met my family. Going shopping with James? It would be weirder to  _not_  get weird looks."

The previously good mood they'd been sharing dropped a little bit with the reminder that Freddie had met Wally's family but  _definitely_ not vice versa. Wally inwardly cursed himself for that slip-up and desperately fished for something to say that wasn't an obvious distraction. After only a second's pause, he snorted quietly again, "Although, I'm weird enough on my own a lot of the time. Did I ever tell you about the time I became a mall Santa for money?"

That startled a laugh out of the momentarily melancholy Freddie. The two spent the rest of the way to the zeta beam in comfortable conversation, trading embarrassing stories and wrapping themselves in the warmth of their clasped hands and happy glow.

Wally paused a little bit when they got to the actual zeta beam. For all that he'd been through them twice already, they still unnerved him a little bit. What were they doing to him? Sure, all the heroes used them, but they hadn't been using them for very long. Were there studies on how this affects a person later in their life? Was the effect different on children and teenagers? Was it different on a speedster? Everything else is different on a speedster.

Freddie tugged a little bit on Wally's hand, "You coming?" He sounded genuinely confused.

Wally sent him a withering glance before turning a skeptical one towards the zeta beam, "How does this even work?"

Freddie's brows drew together over his thick black sunglasses (Wally told himself firmly that he didn't care that he didn't know what color Freddie's eyes were because the sunglasses were hot and made him look mysterious). He glanced over towards the zeta beam with dawning understanding on his face. Freddie asked incredulously, "The zeta beam?"

"Yeah. Those." Wally said, shoulders hunching in defensively.

A little smile crept onto Freddie's lips, "Don't know. Never really bothered to ask. Scared?"

"Concerned." Wally defended immediately, continuing when Freddie's smile grew into a smirk, "For your safety, of course. Who knows what those things do to humans?"

Freddie was obviously trying to contain his obvious amusement, but it really, really wasn't working, "You know that you've already traveled through these things twice, right?"

Wally's shoulders hunched further, "I don't know why that matters. I'm just asking how they work. I like science. I want to know science things."

The curl of Freddie's lips suggesting eyes glittering in mirth underneath those dark sunglasses and Freddie extended his free hand, quickly grabbing Wally's free hand and holding it tightly. Freddie pulled the both of them towards the zeta beam, stepping inside the device. Freddie smiled blindingly and said, "Just hold on tight! I'll make sure nothing happens to you!" It was definitely teasing, and it was something that Freddie would have said even over text, but it was still silly and sweet and kind of romantic and Wally's cheeks flushed. He ducked his head to avoid Freddie seeing anything, but knowing Freddie's alter ego as Robin, the kid definitely saw the move. Sure enough, Robin's signature cackle echoed in the rapidly disappearing space of the zeta beam.

Wally squeezed his eyes shut, only opening them again when the bright white light around him dissipated, leaving him blinking in the fading light of a chilly night in Bludhaven. Freddie let go of one of Wally's hands, tugging him along by just one of their joined hands. Wally smiled bemusedly and let his boyfriend (he never, ever thought that he'd say something like that ever in his life; boyfriends were for humans and dating was for the normal people) lead him through the relatively unfamiliar streets.

Surprisingly enough, considering Wally's tendency to wander and run and explore when he was trying to avoid something (read: almost constantly), he'd never actually been to Bludhaven before. Taking advantage of the chance, Wally glanced around him, looking at the dark and tired looking buildings. He watched the dark and tired people, sagging their way home. There were bright spots – a small, bustling little bakery that still smelled like freshly baked goods this late at night, a brightly colored girl doing tricks and flips on the sidewalk, hat overflowing with coins and cash on the ground. Overall, it was dark. Not that dark was bad. Darkness had its own appeal, its own level of comfort and beauty. The sadness and aching tiredness that permeated from the darkness was not as appealing.

A small pull on his hand made Wally realize that he'd stopped right there in the middle of the sidewalk, staring around him in wonder. Freddie was grinning impishly at him, "First time in Bludhaven?"

"Actually, yes," Wally answered, still looking around him, but actually walking forward this time.

"From what I've heard, this place didn't used to be this bad. Before the rise in heroes created a rise in villains, it was a relatively nice place. Not the best, but not the worst either. Criminals rose in high density due to it's distance from Gotham, but no hero came to take care of it. It just kind of fell to pieces." Freddie said, voice wistful. Wally wondered if he'd ever considered one day trying to tackle the problem that was this city.

Shrugging slightly, Wally said, "That's not necessarily the hero population's fault. The criminals screwed up too. Good criminals should understand that taking care of their city should be their first priority. Without a good city to set up base in, crime life declines too. Bad city means bad hauls and increased police brutality and more mistrustful marks."

Freddie was giving Wally a curious look when Wally finally stopped glancing around at all the buildings. Flushing, Wally winced, "Sorry. I had wanted to avoid talking about hero and villain stuff on our official first date."

Freddie's lips thinned, "First date.  _Just_  first date. There was no  _un_ official first date. Just this." After a moment's pause where Wally tried to nod seriously and not burst out laughing, Freddie added softly, "It's all good. I kind of brought it up too. With how invested into the super world both of us are, it's understandable that we'll bring it up. It's a part of who we are. Don't feel bad talking about it."

"Still, I'll try to… moderate. At least at the start of this. We can get into that more once we've got a few dates behind us." Wally said, not really thinking about his words until he saw the bright expression on Freddie's face. Wally flushed when he realized that he had just implied that he thought this was going to go well enough for another date. So what? that's what the point of these were, right?

Still smiling brightly, Freddie made it to a fancier part of town, bringing Wally to a restaurant that he didn't really get the chance to get a good look at before he was pulled into it. He glanced around at the opulent waiting section while Freddie got everything squared away with their reservation.

It was certainly a nice place. The waiting area was a separate hallway, preventing dinner-goers from watching the clientele while they were waiting. It was classy in the way that showed respect for the privacy and comfort of the people eating in the restaurant. Wally liked it.

Freddie's voice calling back to him broke him out of his reverie. Wally blinked over at Freddie and followed him down the hallway into a room that broke off into the side. No one glanced over at them as they were lead to a little table towards the middle back area of the restaurant.

Wally ran a hand over the nice table and the bright, shining silverware. He couldn't quite help cataloguing the estimated prices each of those would sell for on the black market. Wally felt instantly bad for his actions, peeking up at Freddie from under his eyelashes. Freddie was looking straight at him, an amused set to his chin and the slightest smile on his lips. He grinned, "You were totally casing this place, weren't you?"

The waiter, who'd come up at just the wrong moment, started a little bit, the complimentary water sloshing slightly in their glasses. Wally rolled his eyes at Freddie, "I was  _not_  casing it. I mean, I totally thought about what this silverware would be worth, but there was no casing, I swear. I would never rob your favorite restaurant."

"If you don't mind me saying, you two are a very odd pair." Their waiter said, a small duck of his head hiding a smile.

Freddie grinned brightly, "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Of course you would," Wally muttered, but there was a little smile on his face, too. He knew that it was unbearably fond and probably super dorky, but he couldn't help it. Freddie was adorable. Wally was a mess.

Freddie glanced back up at Wally, "I'm going to order for you. I can already tell that you have no reference for true culinary art. You need to be eased into this. Through my tutelage only will you understand truly marvelous food."

Wally leveled him a droll stare, "I dare you to eat one of Mick's meals and proclaim it as anything but true culinary art." Freddie pouted back at him and Wally rolled his eyes, "Fine, fine! But not because of any 'culinary art' trash, but because you've eaten here more than I have, and you'll know what I'd like better than I would. That's it!"

Freddie gave him another one of those blinding grins that seemed to be part of the dating process. Wally wondered if they would ever stop melting his heart.

The food came faster than Wally had expected it to. A heartbeat of conversation before there was a steaming plate decorated with a stretch of artfully grilled chicken laying against an eye-catching arrangement of softened vegetables. The fabled bowl of macaroni and cheese lay on the side.

The conversation waned a little then, bowing peacefully out of the way of two growing teenaged boys (one of which was a speedster and the other of which certainly had a lot of muscle mass to keep up with) faced with fragrant meals. There were momentary bursts of talk – a compliment on the reservation, a trade-off of food, a shared commiseration of the lack of such meals on an everyday basis. The silence that filled the gaps between conversation were charged with winning smiles and soft laughs and the hesitant, shifting romance in the air as they settled into the roles of boyfriends rather than best friends.

It was the most fun that Wally had had in a very, very long time. He wasn't sure if there was ever a time that he'd been so happy. The experience was bright and filled with such powered emotion that he felt nothing but the joy of the moment washing over him. His time with the Rogues had been kind to him, but he had never really fit quite right there. That was changed, now. His secrets were laid out in front of him and he had been accepted as he was, with no compunctions and no hesitation. His past had been aired out and brought to light and (mainly) avenged.

He had a home now, and a family. He had a boyfriend, now. He had a  _life_  which is something that he could never really claim to have before.

Parting that night, bright-eyed and still bursting off the emotions of the moment, both boys had watched each other, eyes meeting sunglasses. They'd held hands in that park they'd met in and they'd stood there for a long time.

Ever so gently, ever so carefully, Wally cupped the back of Freddie's head and dipped his head down to meet Freddie's lips. His eyes fluttered closed and he pressed into the kiss. Freddie pressed back, moving his hands to wind around Wally's back and hold them there, together. Wally could feel his eyelashes brushing against Freddie's skin, could feel the sharp edges of the sunglasses pressing into his own pale skin.

Wally honestly believed that they would have spent the rest of the night there, kissing (no matter what Len said about being awake and coherent early in the morning for their heist planning) and taking gasping breaths of air and then kissing again. The kisses were a little awkward with the sunglasses and the dinner breath and the cold, January air, but they were all the more magical for it. If this was how amazing a kiss felt in this situation, imagine how it would feel in others? For all that Wally loved their first kiss, it was hardly ideal with the two of them beat up and desperate and right there in front of all of their friends.

Speaking of friends, it was the honk of Roy's horn that pulled the two away from their kissing. Both of them turned bright red, Wally leaning back a little bit. He could see Roy and Aqualad laughing in the car. He flushed darker and tried to pull further away. Freddie rolled his eyes and pulled Wally back down for one more kiss. Now, Wally could see Roy gagging in the car seat. It made him smirk against Freddie's lips.

Freddie finally pulled back, leaning their foreheads together and asking, "Did you have a good day?"

Grinning goofily, Wally's eyes crinkled, and he responded, "Any day's a good day when I get to see you smile."

Freddie turned darker, ducking his head down as much as he could with their foreheads still pressed together. He pushed lightly at Wally's shoulder, swaying the both of them, "Dork."

Wally chuckled, reluctantly pulling back, "Well, I guess we'd better get home, then."

Giving the impression of rolling his eyes under his dark sunglasses, Freddie muttered, "Yeah, guess so. Not like Roy and K-Aqualad would let us stay out here much longer anyways."

"I'll see you later," Wally said, smiling down at Freddie.

Freddie responded with his own happy, beaming smile and said, "See you later!"

He looked back twice as he was running off towards the car, making sure that Wally was still there and watching. Wally waited until the car had pulled out of the park before speeding off towards the current safehouse.

He wasn't surprised to see the message on his phone when he got back.

_Freddie (11:21pm):_

_Text me when you get home so I know you got there safe._

Laughing slightly, Wally navigated around his room, shucking off the stiff clothes and texting all at the same time.

_Wally (11:24pm):_

_I got home. Thanks again for tonight. I look forward to our next date!_

Wally fell asleep feeling happier than he had in a long time.


	3. Trouble in Paradise

DDDDDD

For all that Dick and Wally had danced around the idea of their clashing career choices at dinner on their first date, and for all that Dick had mentally prepared himself for this, it was still something of an unpleasant shock when he saw the news that day.

$1.3 million worth of goods stolen from a museum in downtown Central City. The debut heist of Momentum's career. Who was this mystery speedster? Why did it seem like the Flash knew him? How was it that he was able to escape the Flash? How many other speedsters were out there?

Questions blared across the screen, meaningless statistics, idle curiosity. The people who were reporting on this were bland, uninterested. They were Gotham city reporters and held little stock in the kind-hearted Rogues of Central City. As far as most of Gotham was concerned, the Rogues didn't even count as villains. Their kill count (so far as Dick knew) was zero. They didn't traffic drugs or people. They avoided hurting women and children. They were as un-villainous as a villain could be.

Still, it had been a long time since the Rogues had scrounged up a new member. And, even more, the newest member was a speedster. A speedster who, due to that speed, was able to keep up with and evade the Flash alongside a fellow Rogue member. It was intriguing to the population of Gotham, who would rather hear about this interesting tidbit than the list of last night's crimes.

Because it was interesting, wasn't it? Momentum had obtained his very first warrant for his arrest. Dick had no doubt that there were  _countless_  other crimes that he and the cops hadn't picked up on that Momentum had been a part of, but this was the first one that the police could reliably tie to Momentum. The moment he was caught, he was already guaranteed some jail time. Jail time at Belle Reeve, to boot. That place was for the hardened criminals, the metas and enhanced who had been at this job for a long time, who were jaded and suspicious.

Wally wouldn't last in there.

And yes, Dick knew that Wally's team was likely to go out there and rescue him, but still. All that would do is add more time to Wally's sentence. Other Rogue members were racking up life sentences. How much longer until Wally followed the same path? How much longer until he didn't care? Did he even care now?

Time spent in Belle Reeve with his powers inhibited in the same way the Team had, the same way those  _scientists_  had, would  _not_  be good for Wally. The teen was boisterous and loud and acted like he was bigger than he was. It would make him enemies. Then again, Wally did seem to have a hand for networking in the criminal underworld. There was a chance that his attitude would make him friends instead. Dick wasn't sure which was worse.

Either way, Wally was going to draw attention to himself. That attention could be nothing but bad. Either the bad people didn't like him, and Wally would end up in a sucky situation that would undue months of working on his jaded attitude and defensive nature. Or, the bad people  _did_  like him, and Wally would end up with even more bad influences in his life. And those bad influences didn't have  _nearly_  as many morals as the Rogues.

And the thing was, Dick really wasn't sure what kind of morals Wally had. If any. He knew that Wally was doing things the Rogue way, but he didn't know if that was because Wally believed in their ideals or if he thought he needed to follow the rules to stay. He didn't know what Wally really felt about all of that. The speedster had obviously been willing to join the Light, even armed with the knowledge that they were absolutely terrible and evil. He hadn't seemed to have had any sort of issue with that. What's to say, then, that Wally had any sort of moral? It wasn't like he'd grown up in a life that fostered the creation and formation of said morals. Dick wasn't sure he'd care about killing people if he'd grown up the same way Wally had.

Shaking his head and frowning to rid himself of that depressing line of thought, Dick sighed. There was nothing good that came from this. Wally was setting himself up for disaster. Even if he escaped jail over and over again, that didn't mean anything. Jail time meant that people knew who he was. Dick was an overly visible figure. Wally would be –  _is_  – a wanted criminal and people would make the connection sooner or later. They wouldn't be able to be seen in public together. They wouldn't be able to sign legal documents together (for a home, for a phone plan, for  _marriage_  maybe, someday). Wally would undoubtedly want to use a fake name or something else (do  _whatever_  it was that allowed the Rogues to legally adopt children), but Dick couldn't condone that. He would not like his significant other commit a crime while he watched.

Dick scowled further. How was this any different? How was this situation  _not_  him watching his significant other commit a crime? He'd known that Wally was busy, that he'd only had time for a single short date in the two weeks since they'd had their first date. Now he knew that Wally had been working on getting ready for a heist. How many times had Dick cluelessly been texting or calling Wally while he was literally working on the process for robbing a museum? How many times had he done this before they'd even started dating, before the whole Light mess? This couldn't be the first time that he'd contacted Wally while he was working on set up!

Running anxious hands through his black hair, Dick pulled his head in a little bit, drawing his knees up to his chest.

A cough from behind him almost sent him flying up to the ceiling. Unfortunately, his mental distress had caused him to  _severely_  let his guard down. Alfred had snuck up behind Dick without him having a clue. It was more than a little embarrassing. Dick was just glad that he'd controlled himself enough not to jump. Not that that prevented Alfred from knowing exactly what had happened. Because Alfred was the ultimate person and knew all.

Speaking of, Alfred had seemed to sense that Dick needed some serious comfort food and was currently in the process of setting a steaming cup of tea and a couple muffins on the table in front of the young acrobat. Alfred glanced curiously at Dick before glancing at the television. He murmured, "Ah," before continuing to bustle around the room.

Dick asked in a small voice, "What am I going to do?"

"I am afraid that I have no right, nor knowledge necessary to advise you in this situation. I have never dated a villain and, therefore, cannot fully help you with this situation. I can, however, give you a piece of  _normal_  relationship advice. Whenever one person is this concerned about the actions of the other person, the  _best_  thing to do is set a time to talk to the person face to face. Seriously talk about your concerns and don't leave until you have solved your issues." Alfred instructed. After another second's pause, he added cheekily, "Coincidentally, you have no scheduled activities today."

Mouth dropping open, Dick hissed, "You can't seriously expect me to talk to him  _today_? That's insane!"

Alfred gave him a mildly disappointed look, "The sooner you talk to him about this, the better your relationship will be."

Expression twisting, Dick barely noticed when Alfred left the room. Talk to Wally about the heist they pulled? Before they'd even had a second date? Dick understood that their relationship was more than a little unique and things like first date and second date were irrelevant. They lived in the same 'house' per se for almost a week and they've even slept in the same bed! They've been friends for months and they text all the time. Still, serious conversations had never  _really_  happened between them. The closest Dick had ever gotten to a genuinely serious Wally was when he'd revealed his identity of Freddie and when they were flying up to the Watch Tower. That was two times in  _several_  months. Now Dick wanted to institute a serious conversation just out of the blue?

And, especially, over this. Dick did  _not_  want to break up with Wally. But… this was hard. Harder than he thought it was going to be. He needed to try to work something out with Wally. He just… he couldn't  _ask_  Wally to stop being a criminal, or even to do less overt criminal activities. Wally had literally been adopted by the Rogues. They were the definition of overt criminal activities.

Dick was screwed. Completely, utterly screwed. Why must his morals cause such life problems? Why must he have morals in the first place? An image of two loving acrobats falling to their death flashed through his mind's eye. Dick grimaced. Right, that's why.

Shaking his head, Dick reached over to the coffee table in front of the couch, grabbing his phone. Surely it wouldn't hurt to try. He and Wally could probably use some conversation anyways. Like Dick had mentioned, they hadn't been able to see each other since their first date. Besides, Alfred was magical and literally knew everything. Dick had personally seen the amount of times where listening to Alfred's advice would have prevented a catastrophe. Finally making up his mind, Dick quickly tapped out:

_Freddie (8:34am):_

_Hey, Wally! Are you available to meet up today? I was thinking maybe we could grab some coffee somewhere or something._

Wally's reply was almost instantaneous.

_Wally (8:34am):_

_Have I done something wrong?_

_Freddie (8:34am):_

_No! Not at all! Why would you think that?_

_Wally (8:39am):_

_Your texts are a lot more formal than usual. There is more punctuation and more forced language. I don't know. You just sounded off. Plus, I've been informed that the kind of text you just sent me typically leads to, at the very least, a fight. I think I'm justifiably concerned._

Dick felt panic tighten his chest. He didn't  _want_  a fight with Wally! He didn't  _want_  Wally to think he was mad at him. He didn't  _want_  there to be any problems, especially not this early in their relationship. He just wanted to be with Wally. That was it. If he could easily spend the rest of his life with Wally, Dick would be complete. Aiming for casual, Dick wrote:

_Freddie (8:40am):_

_And who informed you of this? Because they're wrong._

_Wally (8:40am):_

_The internet was wrong? Color me shocked._

_Freddie (8:41am):_

_You're getting relationship advice from the internet? Does no one in your family have dating experience?_

_Wally (8:42am):_

_Oh, they have experience. A little too much of it, if you ask me. They drop girls too fast for me to ever consider asking them for advice. And Hartley hasn't had a date in forever. Plus, I kind of wanted to keep you and me between you and me. I mean, obviously other people know about us, but they don't know all the details. Not that you can't tell anyone details. I'm just not going to tell my family details._

Dick read over the text, lips curving up in a fond smile. Wally was so obviously flustered about this whole thing. Dick felt guilty about making him worry like this, but there really wasn't anything else he could do. And he got to see a cute, flustered Wally. Bonus.

_Freddie (8:43am):_

_Someone's rambling :P_

_Wally (8:43am):_

_Rambling is my natural state of existence._

_Freddie (8:44am):_

_You won't find me arguing with that :D_

_Wally (8:45am):_

_Rude! So, when are we meeting up and where are we going?_

_Freddie (8:46am):_

_I don't feel like going through a zeta beam today, so… do you know where the Brew-tiful Café in Gotham is?_

_Wally (8:46am):_

_I'm fairly sure I do. And if not, that's why we have GPS._

_Freddie (8:47am):_

_Okay, cool. Then, I'll be there in about a half an hour? That good for you?_

_Wally (8:48am):_

_Yep! See you soon!_

There, done. That was the easy part, though. The harder part would be the actual conversation. Dick was actually kind of glad that he was doing it today (surprise, surprise, Alfred's advice was good) because this way he didn't have a lot of time to work himself up about it too much.

Okay, this was good. Dick could do this. Now, he just needed to get to the café. It would be awkward if he was late when he was the one who set up the meeting. Quickly, Dick checked over his outfit before walking over to the dining room where Alfred would probably be setting up breakfast.

Dick had felt bad about bailing for breakfast without telling Alfred, but then he saw that Alfred hadn't set out a place for him anyways. Because of course Alfred knew that Dick was going to take his advice and go to see Wally as soon as possible. Of course. How anyone survived without an Alfred in their lives would always be a mystery for Dick.

There was, however, one cinch in Dick's plan. Bruce was in the dining room, eating breakfast. Dick was going to have to ask for Alfred to drive him to a meeting with Wally  _while Bruce was in the room_. What are the odds of that?

Swallowing, Dick waved to Bruce, "Good morning!"

Bruce glanced up slightly, eyes still slightly clouded with morning bleariness and the kind of unguarded expression he only dared to wear on rare occasions and only in his own house. He nodded back, "Good morning, Dick."

Dick raised an eyebrow, "Did you just now get up? You're normally a lot more awake by now." Probably against his will, Bruce's cheeks darkened slightly. It was only the slightest of coloring, but Dick knew what that meant and immediately wished he hadn't asked, "You know what? Nevermind. You really don't need to say it out loud." Dick understood that Bruce had a playboy persona to maintain and that Bruce typically had at least some attraction to the ladies he took home, but it didn't make it any less awkward to picture his guardian sleeping with some strange woman somewhere in the house while Dick was still there. It was just… awkward. There really was no other word for it. Dick really, really regretted asking. He was pretty sure Bruce did too.

Shaking his head again to remove any horrible imagery that had popped up with his realizations, Dick turned to where Alfred was carefully smirking in the background, "Hey, can you drive me to Brew-tiful Café, please?"

Like a terrifying, bat-shaped laser, Bruce's gaze narrowed in on Dick, "And  _why_  are you going to a café at this time on a Saturday? Kaldur is in Atlantis. Roy is investigating something in Seattle. Math team doesn't have meetings in any café other than Octane. Barbara has a police event with Commissioner Gordon."

Giving Bruce the best disturbed expression he could manage at the time, Dick sighed, "It's really, really sad that you know all that. That's a whole new level. And, since you're wondering, my  _boyfriend_  is perfectly open today."

Bruce's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything other than, "Have fun on your date, then."

Dick's eyebrows nearly flew off his face. Bruce was surprisingly… whelmed at the realization that Dick was going to meet his criminal boyfriend in Gotham. Bruce hated metas in Gotham. Dick was pretty sure that Bruce wasn't all that fond of Wally either way. Dick was definitely sure that Bruce didn't approve of the fact that Wally was a criminal. This was weird. Dick was properly suspicious.

He waited to voice his suspicions until after he was in the car with Alfred, though. He mused out loud, "Bruce was weirdly okay with me just going on a date out of the blue."

Dick was fairly certain that Alfred was aggressively rolling his eyes up in the front portion of the car but didn't particularly feel like checking. Alfred's tone was mild when he responded, "Master Bruce has some understanding of how important this relationship is to you. I believe that he is attempting to be supportive of the relationship."

"Hm. That's pretty cool, I guess." Dick said, reluctantly warmed at the thought of Bruce trying that hard just for him. Even as he thought about it, the warm feeling spread completely, and a goofy expression took over his face. Bruce and Dick had a complicated relationship and, of course, there were a lot of times where anger got the better of them and they unintentionally hurt each other, but it was never really malicious. They loved each other. Bruce and Alfred were Dick's family and, sometimes, that was hard to remember with the way their styles clashed.

The rest of the car ride passed in a blur. Dick was caught between warring emotions of appreciation towards Bruce and dread towards the upcoming conversation. It was kind of stressful to swing between two wildly different emotions like that. Scratch that, it was  _really_  stressful. That mainly just meant that Dick was a mess by the time he made it to the café. Alfred smiled kindly at him as he unlocked the car doors, "Do what's best for  _you_ , Master Dick."

Dick smiled at him, nerves coiling in his stomach, before sliding on his glasses and getting out of the car.

Almost instantly, his eyes caught on a bright form waiting in the café, what looked like a massive coffee cradled in his hands. Wally's bright red hair caught his attention first, the bright Green Lantern shirt catching it next. Dick tilted his head in confusion as he went to the counter and got his own drink and a couple chocolate chip muffins. Always better to start a serious conversation with bribes of chocolate. At least, Dick thought so. He knew that he was always more receptive to something when it came with a dose of chocolate beforehand.

He glanced back over at Wally and saw that, yep, he was still wearing a Green Lantern shirt. Now that Dick was looking closer, he noticed the open Flash hoodie and the Green Arrow shoes. He was pretty sure there was a Red Arrow bracelet and a Robin wallet on the table in front of him. What on Earth…

Brow furrowed, Dick said, "Are you trying to look like Christmas?"

Wally jumped, almost sending his drink flying across the room. His green eyes immediately narrowed, scowl forming over his lips. He blinked when he saw that he was looking at Dick, expression softening instantly, "Too much green to really be Christmas. Or, something like that."

Dick rolled his eyes, sitting down, "No, seriously. What's up with all the hero paraphernalia?"

Dick wasn't expecting Wally's sigh to be so aggressive, his shoulders slumping dramatically, "Barry introduced me to GL and GA, as they'd prefer to be called in a public setting. They've apparently been wanting to meet me since I knocked them out at HQ. They, obviously, liked me." Wally flashed Dick a charming (cute) grin before continuing, "It seems like they've adopted me as their weird villain child or something. GL had already had a shirt with him to give to me. GA and Barry were horrified and determined to win me over. Within the next couple of days, I'd gotten a ton of Flash and Green Arrow merchandise. Apparently, Roy heard about it too and started sending me his stuff. I figured I should probably root for my boyfriend, so I got this wallet. A couple other things, too. I'm starting to like Aqualad, but he doesn't have all that much merch. And I'm not sure if I like him enough for that. We have a complicated relationship."

There was probably a look of horror and confusion on Dick's face. He scrunched his face up, "I just… why are you actually  _wearing_  them, though. You're a supervillain. Why are you wearing superhero merch?"

"Camouflage. Plus, they're comfortable. Mainly camouflage. A little bit of messing with my family, too." Wally answered with a nonchalant shrug. Dick shook his head wordlessly. In a sense, it was sort of camouflage. What villain would be caught dead draped in superhero symbols? Besides, Wally was probably doing his absolute best to  _not_  draw the dangerous kind of attention from the police right about now. Dressing like an obnoxious fanboy was probably as opposite to a teenaged supervillain as the police were going to find.

Well, that dropped Dick from slight amusement all the way back down to the dread that was still coursing sluggishly through his veins.

Expression dropping a little bit, Dick said quietly, "Wally, we… we need to talk."

Wally's easy-going smile fled from his expression, hands gripping tighter around his coffee, "You know, that's what people always say before they break up with their partner." Dick watched as Wally swallowed nervously.

Dick's hands clenched, and he shoved a muffin at Wally expectantly. Wally blinked, but took it anyways, slowly unpeeling the wrapped and taking the smallest bite out of it. Dick took the time to pull himself together, "I was watching the news today, and-,"

"You didn't deny it." Wally interrupted, swallowing his bite of the muffin with an expression like he'd just swallowed a spoonful of cinnamon.

Blinking, Dick asked, "What?"

Wally blinked back, jaw clenching and voice rough, "You didn't deny that people say 'we need to talk' before a break up. If you're breaking up with me, then just tell me. Don't dance around it with a long story and pretty words." Wally's fingers were physically shaking, blurring slightly as Wally delivered his piece.

"No! No, no, no! That's not it at all! I did not come here with the specific purpose of breaking up with you! I just, I got so nervous trying to remember what, exactly, I wanted to say to you that I didn't even think about addressing what you said. I did not come here to break up with you." Dick hurried to correct, horrified that Wally had even thought that. Dick was an idiot. Of course, Wally would have jumped to that conclusion!

Wally didn't seem all that soothed, posture still terribly tense when he said, "But you didn't come here for something good. I messed up, didn't I?"

Dick sighed and rubbed at his forehead, "Look, just. Let me speak. This is coming out all wrong and it's getting all screwed up. Just let me speak." He paused for a moment and looked at Wally. Although the elder teen's lips tightened, he didn't say anything, just nodding for Dick to speak.

"Okay," Dick started, "Thank you. Anyways, I was watching the news this morning and they… they started to report on the newest member of the Rogues. Don't look smug, this is serious! I  _know_  that this is an achievement to you, but it feels like a failure to  _me_. I mean, I failed to prevent a crime – a $1.3 million crime! – by knowingly letting you walk around and steal stuff. I mean, how many times have I contacted you while you were working on stuff for a heist? How many times have you cut off communication to go  _steal_  something? You have a warrant out for your arrest! Your prospected jail time is multiplying! Do you know how that makes me feel?"

Wally waited for a moment to see if Dick was going to keep talking. Dick didn't, so Wally answered, "No, I don't. Hey, don't get huffy with me! I genuinely don't understand how you feel. It's different being a villain and watching a hero save the day. It's harder on you. I don't have those stupid morals to make me feel upset when you stop another criminal. They were stupid enough to get caught. End of story. You  _could_  look at my work the same way. People were stupid enough to get stolen from. End of story. But you choose not to because of your morals."

"I'm not  _choosing_  anything!" Dick stressed, laying his hands flat on the table in front of him. He took a breath to calm down, "I'm not  _choosing_  to look at your  _criminal activities_  a certain way. There's no 'certain way' to look at them. You're hurting people. What you and I do is different. I don't hurt innocent people."

Dick watched as Wally's lips tightened even further and his entire expression flattened out; he realized instantly that he'd said the wrong thing. Wally's voice was just as flat as his expression, a little hurt and a little frustrated, "And why is it that only the innocent deserves that kind of treatment? Ever think it's because people make assumptions on a person's  _innocence_  that people  _lose_  that innocence in the first place? I just… I thought you were okay with this. I thought we decided that we could do this even with our different jobs." He sounded so defeated by the end, shoulders slumping, and coffee clutched to his chest like a lifeline.

Swallowing, Dick took another bite of his muffin, trying to pull himself together, "I thought so too. But… I saw you on the news, saw a picture of you  _laughing_  as you stood over Flash when he was down. It's a lot harder when I see you hurting people than when it's just an abstract thing."

"I didn't hurt  _anyone_ ," Wally snapped, tone defensive, "Cold's developed a new ice blast formula that won't hurt people, and that's the one that he used on the guard. Besides, even if he used his normal blast, it wouldn't be all that big of a deal. The police and Flash both have stuff that specially melts Cold's blasts. And fighting with Flash is mostly just to see who'd win."

"You're still hurting someone. What about the people you stole from? How do you think they feel about being $1.3  _million_  poorer? That's their hard-earned money!" Dick tried to explain.

Wally took a second, eyes closing, breath attempting to even out, "You want to know the truth? The Rogues try to target bad people. Sometimes a good haul is a good haul, no matter where it come from, but most of the time, we try to target douchebags. Because then we also get the satisfaction of making them feel like trash. And  _yes_ , I know that means consequences further down the line when we steal from companies or museums because people get fired or whatever. Here's another truth: I don't care. At all. That's how it is. I'm not going to stop stealing. I'm not going to stop being so public about it. Either you deal with it, or we break up. Your call." He'd gotten defensive again by the end, voice hard, a sneer painting across his face. He reminded Dick of the Wally that was trapped in the Cave, scared and defensive and trying to pull up a mask to protect him.

And how was that fair? Dick wasn't  _attacking_ him! He was just trying to figure this out and Wally was making it difficult. Couldn't he see how hard it was for Dick? It might be easy for Wally, but it certainly wasn't easy for Dick. It wasn't  _fair_  to pin this decision entirely on Dick. He shouldn't be the one having to decide where they go from here. It should be a decision that they made together!

Dick's eyes flashed dangerously, still hidden beneath the black shades. Who was he kidding? Why did he ever think he could handle this? Wally was a  _supervillain_. They just didn't mesh. Dick should never have gotten this far into it. It was stupid of him and it was stupid of Wally.

Expression severe, anger filling his veins, Dick hissed, "Fine, then! You're going to make me choose? Well, between my  _morals_  and  _you_ , I'm going to choose my morals."

Wally's jaw tightened further, and he kept his gaze on something just off to the side of Dick's face. His voice was perfectly smooth when he said, "I told you when we started this: if you're breaking up with me, just say it. Don't dance around it."

Fists clenched, Dick grit out, "I'm breaking up with you."

Wally let out a bitter, breathless laugh, muttering, "Go figure."

Dick swallowed again, trying to keep back the burning in his eyes, "You should probably leave. Batman doesn't like metahumans –  _especially_  villain metahumans – in his city." There was a lot of anger in Wally's expression when he stood up, grabbed his wallet, and vindictively took one of the remaining muffins. When he started walking away, though, there was a brief flash of  _hurt_  in the tension of his shoulders. Dick couldn't stop one tear from sliding down his cheek.


	4. Chapter 4

WWWWWW

Wally had been in a terrible mood for days after the break-up. What a  _stupid_  reason to break up! They had just made it past their first month, too. Wally had felt accomplished, like he was actually doing something right. From what he'd been able to tell, there had been nothing wrong, nothing majorly broken in their relationship.

Next thing he knew, he was getting dumped! In the middle of Gotham of all places! The least Robin (he didn't get to be called Freddie anymore, not in Wally's head) could have done was dump him in a nicer city.

Wally brushed a hand through his hair, jaw clenching as he looked at the piece of machinery he was supposed to be working on. Why on  _earth_  the rest of the Rogues had thought that it was a good idea for  _Wally_  to try to build a massive, smart refrigerator from scratch was beyond him. At no point in his time with them had he  _ever_  displayed any sort of knowledge in building refrigerators. It was frustrating. Especially trying to dig through the myriad of parts that were abandoned in one of the Rogue's warehouses. It was literally a warehouse piled with trash from failed assignments and dysfunctional or old guns. He'd actually had to teach himself how to melt and reuse metal!

The hand brushing through his hair took on a rougher edge, yanking at his red locks as he stood there, jaw clenching. So what he's a villain? Robin was a hero! Robin's been a hero for longer than Wally had even  _contemplated_  being a villain! Why did he get to act all high and mighty because of that? Heroes weren't all they were cracked up to be. Surely Robin, who spent all of his time around them, should know that. Heroes were  _nothing_  good and Wally was  _proud_ to be a villain.

If Robin can't deal with that, then he could go shove it. See if Wally cared. Wally furiously threw himself back into the project he'd been assigned to, angrily pounding the skeleton of the thing into shape according to the sizes the Rogues had given him and the specs he'd found (read: stolen the blueprints of a currently experimental and not ready for production smart fridge). Robin was the thing furthest from his mind. Robin didn't even matter. If he was going to call their thing off, then he could deal with the  _feelings_. Wally didn't feel a thing. Why would he for someone self-absorbed enough to break up with someone because of their  _career choice_?

He was still thinking about Robin.

Wally cursed, sending the wrench he'd been holding flying across the room. It sparked and bounced off of a few large metal objects before striking something covered in brown tarp and falling to the ground.

More interesting than that, though, was the sudden, high-pitched,  _female_  yelp that followed the motion. Wally spun around, eyes wide, trying to find the source of the yelp.

The person who walked into his field of vision was familiar to him only through pictures and fond (occasionally not so fond) stories of her. Wally blinked slightly before asking incredulously, "Lisa Snart?"

The woman's rather pretty face brightened immediately as she started navigating her way through the minefield of old and sometimes still functional machinery, "Yes! And I imagine that you're Lenny's new kid! I can't see any other reason for a fiery red head to be in a Rogue warehouse."

In the face of the woman's gleaming enthusiasm, Wally settled a little back into himself, "Yeah, that's me. The others have got me making them a new refrigerator."

"Ooh," Lisa cooed, towering over Wally in her stilettoes, "You ever make a refrigerator before?"

Wally scowled, "No."

Lisa laughed, loud and bright and carefree in a way that none of the other Rogues really managed, "I can see them asking you to make it, then. You're still recovering from a bad break-up, right? This is probably their way of making sure that you keep busy and keep your mind off of him."

The scowl deepened, and he grit out, "Which one of them told you about that? The only ones that were supposed to know were the other kids and Len!"

"Well, it was Lenny, of course! I'm quite good at getting information out of him. And I just couldn't bear the thought of you suffering through it in whatever convoluted way those boys managed to whip up. Men are idiots. Boys, obviously, still have a chance. They just need a leading woman in their life to make sure that they're on the right path. That's the main reason why I stop in at the safehouses as often as I do. I need to make sure that Hartley and James are on the right path. How do you think Hartley ended up as mature and reasonable as he did? Entirely me, of course. James is, well… he's James. But now, I've got to help you and Cameron on that same path! Come on, sweetie. You can come back to the fridge if you want to. For today, though, you're mine." Lisa rambled, settling her arm into the crook of his by the end of the speech and starting to pull him out of the warehouse.

Wally dug his heels in, more confused than anything else, "Wait, but… wait… I mean, how do you know that their method isn't working?"

Lisa gave him a droll stare, perfectly manicured eyebrow lifting incredulously, "You're still thinking about that boy, aren't you?"

Blinking, Wally came to the conclusion that he was simultaneously terrified of and in love with this woman. She was quite possibly the most aggressive woman Wally had ever had the chance to meet and he'd met some pretty aggressive women between the criminal underworld, the heroes, and the Light.

Without giving him a chance to respond, Lisa grabbed Wally's arm again, this time gripping it in a way that pretty much guaranteed no escape. Wally eventually gave up and just went with her. She completely bypassed the fancy motorcycle that was sitting there, instead leading Wally on a walk that quickly took them out of the warehouse district and into the nearby shopping district. Lips quirked up in a reluctant smile, Wally asked, "Where are we going?"

"Shopping, of course!" Lisa responded, as cheerful as she always seemed to be.

Wally raised both eyebrows, "You think the solution to my troubles is  _shopping_?  _Me_?"

"Would it help to know that we're using my brother's personal credit card?" Lisa asked teasingly, eyebrows moving up and down. Wally couldn't help the abrupt laugh that bubbled out of him. Lisa grinned, unrepentant, "Besides, your shoes are boring. You need more shoes. Hartley and James did pretty well on the clothes, but not enough shoes. And we're going to get you a haircut, too because you could use a new one. Hm… you look like the kind of guy that can pull off jewelry. We can get you a nice little leather bracelet, make it personal or something like that. They've got a kiosk for that. Get you a shark tooth necklace or dog tag necklace or whatever. Add on some earrings… you can definitely pull off earrings. It'll make you look like a bad boy, but, like, the sexy kind." She waggled her eyebrows again.

Wally tugged her to a stop, "Wait, what?" He felt like he was saying that a lot while he was with her, "I'm not getting earrings!"

Her eyes lit up, though, to that response, "That means you don't have a problem with the rest of it! Good! I was worried I'd have to fight with you about all of it. Ooh, we'll have to get you headphones, too! You can wear them around your neck. That'll really knock his socks off. A whole new outfit could do for you, actually. Oh, and don't worry about the earrings, sweetie. I'll convince you by the time we get the rest of the items."

Green eyes stared at the woman next to him in alarm. He'd always laughed with the rest of the Rogues, helped them tease Len about being whipped by this mysterious younger sister of Captain Cold. Now, though, he wasn't sure how anyone who had met the woman could tease Len about his compulsion to obey her. She was absolutely  _terrifying_.

She dragged him further into the shopping complex.

It was at least four hours before he emerged again. He hadn't realized that shopping trips could be that… he didn't even have a word for it.

Despite himself, though, he enjoyed it. The shopping trip was much more enjoyable than he'd expected it to be. A large part of it was due to Aunt Lisa (she'd insisted on the 'aunt' bit, and Wally had been powerless to say no) and her non-stop chatter. She'd managed to get him through an entire day without thinking of Robin a single time.

He had also, by the end, been given an entirely new outfit. His slim cut jeans were replaced for skinny jeans, a light, stressed grey that paired with the huge red hoodie, zipper down the middle of the Flash symbol (Wally really, really did not understand why other villains found it so amusing when he wore Flash merchandise. At this point, Wally wasn't even offended. He was just confused). There was a bright yellow, tight t-shirt underneath that did, admittedly, look pretty good on Wally. He refused to call himself sexy. His shoes were bright red converse, something that Wally had never worn before (he'd always loved the look of them, but they weren't anywhere near practical for running in).

They'd made it to the jewelry store. Wally was sending suspicious glances towards the piercing corner, but for now it really did seem as if they were just looking for a men's leather bracelet and a men's necklace of some sort. Convinced that he was safe for the moment, Wally looked around. He honestly hadn't known that they made jewelry stores for men, hadn't even thought to look into it. Well, it was less for men and more just… unisex. There were less unicorns and roses than he typically saw at the more popular jewelry stores.

Then, his eyes caught on a brightly colored section in the back, proudly proclaiming love of their city's superhero. He drifted over it, a reluctant smile on his face as he ran his hands over the Flash merchandise.

His eyes narrowed as he looked further down. He bent down to get a better look at it. Was that… no. It couldn't be. Could it? Wally looked in delight as the bottom two rows revealed themselves to be dedicated to the Flash's Rogues. He even had some merchandise of his own. And there was even a leather bracelet like Aunt Lisa was talking about getting. Wally grabbed it, standing up. He turned around, prepared to find her and convince her to buy it for him.

Wally yelped, however, when he turned around to see that she was inches away from his face, having been apparently fondly watching him the entire time. He clutched his stomach, gasping slightly, "Geez, Aunt Lisa. Give a guy a little warning, yeah?"

She smiled breezily and plucked the bracelet out of his hands. She turned it this way and that, pursing her lips, "Lenny wouldn't be very happy if you went around wearing a bracelet with the Momentum symbol on it before Momentum's identity gets revealed."

Wally gave her his best pout, "Len isn't here, though. Besides, I wear long sleeves and hoodies ninety percent of the time. No one's even going to see it. And if they do, the symbol is small enough that it shouldn't be a problem. And if people somehow see the bracelet and can make out the symbol, then I'm a new enough villain that it shouldn't cause too many problems." He was really getting into the bracelet now. He had basically all the heroes' memorabilia, but none of his own kind, none of his  _own_. Getting this bracelet and wearing it would be like being able to own who he was. It would be like being able to completely be his own person for the first time.

Aunt Lisa's lips curled up into that terrifying grin that Wally had come to fear greatly, "How about a trade-off, sweetie? I do something for you, you do something for me? I get you the bracelet, you get the earrings."

Mouth dropping open, Wally started shaking his head, "No, nope. No way. Not happening. Never. For any reason."

Apparently, Wally's rambling had attracted the two employees working there. They both wandered over, eyeing the customers excitedly. The girl grinned, "And what won't we be doing today?"

"Getting my ears pierced," Wally answered sullenly, glaring to the left where Aunt Lisa was standing innocently. A villain Wally may be, he could never say no to sales associates who pressed him. It made him feel like he was taking something vital from their lives by refusing their services. Somehow, Aunt Lisa had already picked up on this fact. Terrifying.

The man gave him wide, innocent,  _hurt_  eyes, "But why not? I got my ears pierced here and I love them. The procedure is totally clean, no problems there. Our cleaning formula is fast acting and will make sure that your ear heals without healing the earring into your ear. I'm assuming you're wanting a lobe piercing, which we do here with a gun. It's quick and relatively painless, way less painful than a needle. It's a great procedure and we do offer a free purchase of up to $10 worth of earrings with an ear piercing."

The girl pitched in, "I've pierced dozens of people's ears. Everyone's had nothing but good things to say about it. No infections or anything like that."

Wally could feel himself caving under the pressure, his lips pulling into a customary scowl as he tried to figure out a legitimate reason to say no to them. He thought about it and… oh! Wally gestured to Aunt Lisa and whispered into her ear, "What about my speed healing? Won't that mess up the earrings?"

She kept grinning that terrifying, rose-lipped smile at him and whispered back, "Oh darling, I've already taken care of that. I talked to Flash and he gave me a few drops of something that, when put in the cleaning solution, will prevent that one area from healing at super speed."

Wally gave her a hopeless look, knowing that she won. Knowing that she's known that she's won since she first cornered him in that warehouse. The employees grinned hopefully at him from his other side. He was screwed.

Slumping, Wally sighed out, "Okay, fine. I'll do it. Happy now?"

Aunt Lisa and the female worker started clapping, the male working slapping Wally on the back and congratulating him. Wally felt himself become reluctantly excited about it. It might actually be kind of fun. How bad could having earrings be? They looked pretty cool on the male worker. Maybe Aunt Lisa would pick out a haircut that would show the earrings off better. Wally's hair was getting a little shaggy. Wally was also more than a little horrified at how much control over him Aunt Lisa had gained in the brief period they'd known each other. He did have to respect her skill, though.

Wally was calmly lead over to a display case which showed off an array of studs. With Len's credit card in their pocket, Wally could pick whatever earring he wanted. His eyes skipped over the options before landing (snagging) on one in particular. It was a stylized 'R', bright yellow with a black filled in center. Robin's symbol. Because of course Robin's symbol was in there. Because of course Wally could almost make it through an enjoyable shopping trip without thinking about it only to be reminded at the last minute.

Wally's jaw clenched, and he tried to remind himself that it was okay, and he was having fun. Aunt Lisa's hand at his back helped, grounding him and pulling him back to where he wanted to be.

In the end, he picked a pair of simple silver lightning bolts. They weren't exactly Flash themed, paying homage to the Speed Force in general rather than the Flash legacy. He watched as Aunt Lisa distracted the girl doing Wally's piercings, quickly slipping the drops of no-heal stuff into the cleaning liquid while the girl was looking at something else. Lisa signed a sheet of paper saying that she approved of the decision because Wally wasn't eighteen and apparently couldn't make this decision by himself. Ridiculous.

They were right; it barely pinched, causing his eye to twitch for a brief moment as the earring went straight through his ear. It was kind of a bizarre feeling to willingly let someone stab through his skin, but whatever. It was a little sore, later, the spot throbbing along with his pulse. Wally's nose twitched at the raw feeling of it.

Lisa went to the counter, picking out a little piece of cardboard that held an assortment of silver and fake diamond studs on it, adding them to the leather bracelet that Wally already adored.

He slid the bracelet on as soon as they were out of the store, ignoring Aunt Lisa's pointed look. He rolled his eyes and walked with her to the hair salon.

By the time he walked out of there, he felt like an entirely new person. His clothes were stylish, but simple in a way that didn't necessarily call him out. His shoes matched with the outfit to give him somewhat of a hipster vibe, but that was ruined by the good quality leather bracelet and the silver studs in his ears. His hair, shorn short at the sides and longer on top, was as bright as his hoodie and twice as unruly. He looked like something between a punk, a hipster, and a nerd. It was quite honestly one of the most accurate outfits Wally had ever worn.

Maybe in a different life, he'd have been full nerd, holes in his well-worn Flash hoodie as he waited for him uncle to take him home from school, hair shaggy and untameable as his aunt told him that he really should get himself a haircut soon.

But he wasn't in that life. He was here, in this one. He was fresh out of a break-up and getting an entirely new look. He'd lived a life that led to being punk enough to survive on the streets and hipster enough to go unnoticed when pickpocketing.

Aunt Lisa looped her arm around his again, "Now, wasn't that a much better way to spend your day?"

"Yeah, I guess it was," Wally responded, sending her as warm of a look as he could manage. It was as close to a 'thank you' as she was going to get.

She beamed at him regardless, "Now, despite the fact that I've spent the entire day trying to get your mind off that boy, I'm going to bring him up. See, I've just met you today and I've only met him through the… shall we say family business? But even I can see that you two are perfect for each other! I certainly won't stand to see you heartbroken over such a silly reason. The true purpose behind this little makeover was to knock him off his feet. Don't worry, sweetie. We'll get to scheming about that later. For now, let's get you home. I'm sure you're excited to see me manipulating Lenny…"

Wally listened to her go on, letting the warmth of her words blanket the hope blossoming in his chest at the idea that he still had a chance with Robin. He wasn't smothering the hope or destroying it. He was just… letting it simmer where he couldn't notice it for the moment. After all, he wasn't the one who needed convincing.


	5. Chapter 5

DDDDDD

Dick sat face down on his bed, trying to will the pillow to swallow him whole. He was pretty sure he'd be less miserable if that were the case.

Bruce had taken to avoiding Dick after he'd come home from the disastrous coffee conversation with red-rimmed eyes and a clenched jaw. Dick was pretty sure that Bruce was convinced that Dick wanted to have some sort of heart-to-heart with him about romance and his first broken heart, and that was why Bruce was avoiding him. He wasn't entirely certain, but that was what made the most sense in context.

Roy wasn't much better, trying to avoid any and all conversations that even slightly alluded to Wally for fear that he wouldn't be able to be partial. Being friends with both of them, Roy was in the awkward middle place that normally involved both parties complaining to him. Although, he had admitted to Dick that Wally hadn't said a single thing to Roy about Dick (or, well, about  _anything_ ; Wally had been radio silent for over a week now).

For a little while, Dick had been getting better. He really, really had. He talked to Kaldur about it, soaking in the Atlantean's unflappable personality and calmness. He accepted Alfred's comfort food and warm shoulder pats. He went to school and won a math team competition. He was  _enjoying_ himself. Dick didn't need Wally. He didn't even  _think_  about the speedster for a couple of days (except, you know, when he did… as in once a day… or maybe once every couple of hours… or maybe Dick never really stopped thinking about Wally).

Then the news had come all the way to Gotham about the crime spree that Momentum and Golden Glider had been orchestrating. One bank, four jewelry stores, six rich people's hotel rooms. Five days. It was a crime spree of unbelievable proportions. Normal criminals would never consider that many high-profile hits in that little time.

Barry was running himself ragged. After the first three days, it seemed as if the other Rogues got themselves in on the plan to make Barry miserable because each one pulled off a solo heist during that time too. Central City wasn't even offended at the sudden onslaught of crime; they were just confused. Luckily for Barry, all of the other criminals were just as confused as the regular citizens of Central City and were laying low. No one wanted to get in the middle of whatever thing the Rogues were doing, especially not after the tight leash they'd been running with on their return from the Light debacle.

On the sixth day of the crime spree, the Team were all gathered around the television, watching the news. Four different high-profile targets were hit by various Rogues that day, two of which were the joint efforts of Golden Glider and Momentum. Dick felt himself grimacing at the sight of Momentum robbing a museum.

Artemis glanced between the screen and Dick before nudging M'gann and pointing with her head towards Dick. Dick rolled his eyes, "Whatever you're going to say, I don't want to hear it!"

M'gann pursed her lips and opened her eyes wide – classic innocent expression, "I was just going to say that it seems like he's trying to get someone's attention."

"This is a pretty poor way of getting my attention, don't you think?" Dick muttered, pout settling firmly over his features.

M'gann blinked innocently at him, "I never said he was trying to get  _your_  attention."

Zatanna added easily, "He's probably trying to get his Uncle's attention. Flash  _is_  Momentum's uncle, right?"

Raquel piped in with, "Besides, you broke up, right? Why would he even be thinking about you right now?"

Artemis dealt the final blow, "I know  _I_  wouldn't be thinking about someone who broke up with me for a weird reason."

"Argh!" Dick cried, leaping up out of the seat. Conner's head peaked out from the hallway that held the bedrooms before he blinked and slunk back towards his room. Dick gripped his hair, "Whose side are you on, anyways?"

"We're on your side, sweetie. We just want you to be happy!" M'gann enthused, clearly determined to prove her sincerity by floating over to him and gripping his hand tightly.

Dick flung an arm out at Artemis, beseeching her, "You don't even like him!"

"I'm not the one who wants to date him," She answered blithely. Dick let out another inarticulate sound of frustration. The girls smiled beatifically up at him.

Dick stalked towards the zeta beams, "I'm going to go… do something. Patrol! I'm going to go patrol in Gotham! Goodbye!"

"Goodbye, Robin!" M'gann called sweetly, the others calling out farewells as he went. Dick silently promised himself that he was never going to let himself be caught alone with the girls again.

He took a deep breath as the Gotham alley that served as a zeta beam transport location came into view. Bruce probably wouldn't be too pleased that Dick was out patrolling when he was supposed to be with the Team, but Dick figured that he could just bring up his feelings to ward Bruce's lecture off. It seemed to be a legitimate approach recently. Worked 8/9 times.

Still, Dick did know that he probably shouldn't be wandering around Gotham without letting  _anyone_  know. Sighing, Dick pulled out his wrist computer and started typing up a text to let Bruce know where he was.

He was only halfway through the text when a sultry voice purred behind him, "What's a little bird like you doing in a place like this?"

Dick whirled around, hand on a batarang, "Catwoman!"

"Oh,  _please_ ," she purred, "None of that today. I just want to talk. Selina to Dick as it were."

Dick narrowed his eyes are her, "Okay… Let me get changed and we can talk at that café down the street."

"Aw," Selina pouted, "You don't trust me enough to have a conversation with me in a secluded alleyway?" Dick sighed and didn't answer. Why was this his life, honestly?

It didn't take him long to get changed out of his suit, used to times where he needed to become Robin  _instantly_  or people were going to die. Still, he was worried that Selina would have disappeared on him during the time he was changing.

Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how the conversation went), she was still waiting for him when he finished.

She immediately linked arms with him, pulling him out of the alley and down the street towards the café, "How's Bruce? Is he doing alright?"

Dick rolled his eyes, "He's Bruce. Who knows how he's doing?"

"Don't be like that! He's purr-fectly easy to read, once you get to know him. And you've been with him long enough," Selina responded, smoky-eyed gaze locked on their goal. She continued after a second's pause, "He's avoiding you, isn't he? You two have been separated on patrols more often than not recently. And you don't know how he's doing. Poor thing." Dick wasn't sure if she was talking about him or Bruce.

He rolled his eyes either way, "You know how he gets. Something happens, and he loses all capabilities of acting like a normal person."

Selina laughed, a warm, deep sound like a cat purring, "Does he  _ever_  have the capabilities of acting like a normal person?"

"You're the one who dates him all the time. You would know if there were any," Dick threw back, sighing a little bit.

Selina looked like she wanted to say something else, but didn't, instead getting them into the café. She found them a convenient seat that would allow for both of their paranoias to be satisfied, and she ordered for them. Dick found himself sipping a hot chocolate just like he'd been when he broke up with Wally. His gut churned, and he set the drink back on the table.

Voice soft, Selina asked, "Why do you think I allow myself to date Bruce?"

"Because you love him?" Dick guessed. Selina and Bruce had pronounced their love for each other before, their relationship so complex and so full of history that Dick didn't have a chance of understanding it. The complication that was their on-again-off-again relationship had started long before Dick became part of the picture.

Selina tilted her head to the side, "Alright,  _yes_. But why do I  _allow_  myself this luxury? And yes, I know that I'm a thief and I take what I want, but this is different. You know what I'm asking you."

Dick bit his lip, "Because he's nice to you?" He wasn't sure what the right answer was here. Honestly, he tried to avoid thinking about his guardian's relationships.

Giving him an indulgent smile, Selina answered, "Close enough. I keep coming back to him because he's the one good thing in this world that I can't taint. I've tried. I've tried to convince him to come to my side. I've tried to push him away when he got too close. I've tried to break him when we fell too strongly in love. But he stays so strong, so loving, so  _good_. He is a hero and he will always be a hero and I love that just as much as I love him."

"I don't understand," Dick admitted. Why was she telling him this? What did it mean?

Selina's lips twisted a little as she thought, head tilting and eyes locked on Dick's face like a cat watching her prey, "I love Bruce for who he is. I love him for his nature, his history, his emotions, his actions, his morals. I love him for the way he's different to me. Ying and yang. Two sides to the same coin. I love him  _because_  he is a hero and I'm a villain, not in  _spite_  of it."

Dick pulled back a little bit, pulling a face, "This is about me and my ex."

"This is about you and your ex," Selina confirmed.

"How did you even find  _out_  about that?" Dick bemoaned, hiding his face in his hands, "Despite the fact that I told four people we were dating,  _everyone_  knows. I only told three people that we had broken up and everyone knows  _that_  too!"

Selina gave him an unimpressed glare, "Darling, look at who you're talking to. If I couldn't manage that much, then I wouldn't be Catwoman. Besides, the Rogues temporarily considered you to be one of their own since you were dating one of their own. They sent out a warning to the underworld, letting them know that you weren't to be seriously hurt. And if you were, there would be  _retributions_."

"They… what?" Dick asked, oddly touched. He knew that they weren't doing it for him at all, but it still kind of felt that way. It was nice to know that there was a group of people who were temporarily willing to threaten people to protect Dick.

Selina nodded, "Obviously, the order has been flipped. Lisa told them to wait on coming here to Gotham and destroying you themselves, but they have put out the order that they no longer care how rough criminals are with you."

Frowning, Dick asked, "Since when do you know Golden Glider as Lisa."

"Since Len adopted James," Selina answered easily.

Dick gaped at her, "That was  _years_  ago! You've been on a first name basis with  _Lisa Snart_  for  _years_?"

Selina's lips curled into a Cheshire grin, "There are a lot of things you don't know about me, little bird."

He threw his head into his hands, mumbling into his palms, "I hate my life."

Selina made soothing noises, "Now, now. I've been sent here to convince you to give Wally a second try. Have you noticed how hard he's been trying to get your attention? Do you know how difficult it is to pull off that many nice hits in that short of a time period? Especially with someone you haven't worked with before? He's been trying so hard for you."

"He's  _not_  trying to get my attention. And if he is, he's doing it the wrong way. The reason I broke up with him is because he's a criminal! Doing criminal activities that are nationally televised is not the way to get me back!" Dick protested, finally picking up his cup again and sipping at the hot chocolate.

Heaving a dramatic sigh, Selina waved long-nailed fingers in the air irritably, as if she were trying to claw at something, "Honestly, did you not hear the beginning of this conversation? Bruce is a hero and I'm a criminal and we've been in love for a very long time."

"You can't manage to stay together," Dick pointed out, eyebrows raised accusingly.

Selina rolled her eyes as if she couldn't imagine finding someone  _stupider_  than Dick, "That's because Bruce has zero emotional capacity, something that you yourself point out. My  _point_  is that you and Wally are meant to be together. Your rough edges even each other out. Ying and yang. Hero and villain. It doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be a focus of your relationship. Your differences can be the reasons you love each other."

Dick's cheeks heated, " _Selina_! We're not  _anywhere_  near that stage!" He caught himself, adding on hastily, "And we never will be! Because I broke up with him and that's the end of that!"

Selina rolled her eyes again, tapping one hand tipped with elegantly painted claws against the table top, the other hand a painted perch for her chin, "Why do you dislike when he steals?"

"Because it's  _wrong_!" Dick answered immediately, scowling.

"Is it? Is it wrong for him to have stolen because he was starving on the streets?" Selina asked, eyes sharp.

Dick's mouth twitched further into a frown, "That's not him anymore. He's got a place to stay and people to take care of him. The other Rogues make enough money that they can take care of him."

"So it's alright for the rest of the Rogues to steal and him to benefit from that, but it's not alright for him to steal the money himself?" Selina asked, perfectly manicured eyebrow raising.

Growling in the back of his throat, Dick answered, "It's not right for the Rogues to steal, either! No one should be stealing!"

"They wouldn't be able to support themselves or the children without stealing, though. With the records they all have, if they went on the straight and narrow, they would be spending the rest of their lives in jail. Do you want the younger Rogues to be thrown out into the streets because the older Rogues are in jail for the rest of their lives, or running for the rest of their lives, unable to get a job for fear of being caught?" Selina listed rapidly, seeming to enjoy the expression of frustration on Dick's face.

Dick struggled to find the right words, "They shouldn't have stolen anything in the first place."

"But they did," Selina argued, "Are you saying that Wally should be punished because the Rogues have stolen things for many years and they were the first ones to show him kindness?"

"No, I'm not saying that!" Dick huffed, frustrated despite himself.

Selina smirked, her lips curling languidly like the tail of a cat, "Then what are you saying, Dick? Because it seems to me that you don't entirely know yourself. And if you can't justify this reasoning to  _yourself_ , then it's not something to ruin a relationship over."

Setting down his mug again, Dick ran frustrated hands through his hair, "I just… I give my  _everything_  to stop crime. I've seen people I care about give their  _lives_  to stop crime. And yet, I'm going to date someone who does it every single day? Who lives and breaths crime? Whose entire family is made of criminals? How can I make those sacrifices, how can I watch  _others_  make those sacrifices when I'm allowing a criminal to go free, allowing him to go on without ever paying for his crimes?"

"Do you think he's not paying for his crimes?" Selina asked, voice suddenly sharp, "I only know what the underworld knows about him and what Lisa knows about him, but that's enough for me. That boy has had an  _awful_  life. Cruelty after cruelty has been inflicted on him. I think he payed enough for his crimes before he even committed them. I'm not surprised that he turned to crime with a past like that. He pays for his crimes with every nightmare, with every memory, with every  _scar_. Do not tell me that he's not paying for his crimes. If anything, someone has taken too much from him. They have enacted too great a punishment for his crimes. He deserves love and a family and a place to come home to."

Dick blinked at her, surprised at the sudden outburst. Dick honestly hadn't thought of it that way. He wasn't sure he agreed, but still. It was an interesting notion – a sad one, devastating even, but interesting. He murmured softly, "I never…"

Her expression softened, "I know. Not many heroes do. I think that's why the Flash gets along so well with his Rogues, honestly. I think he understands. It's hard to tell with speedsters, somedays."

Dick swallowed, "You really think I should get back together with him."

Selina pursed her lips, "I think you should  _try_. And I think you should give him a much better reason to break it off if you decide that it really does need breaking off."

"It's hard," Dick admitted, "And that's not even the only problem! Can you imagine what will happen when he gets caught for the first time? I'm not exactly a low-key person? Can you imagine the fallout if Richard Grayson is caught dating the metahuman criminal Momentum? That'll just blow up in anyone's face!"

"He doesn't even know your identity," Selina stated flatly.

Dick's nose scrunched, "I  _know_  that, but-,"

She interrupted him, "Then you don't have to worry about that yet. And that kind of thing is something that you only need to worry about later on in a relationship. After all, Bruce and I have managed it for  _years_."

Dick's nose scrunched further, trying to find something,  _anything_  to say that would go against her logic. It wasn't that he didn't want to get back together with Wally. He'd wanted that from the moment he'd said that they needed to separate. It was that he was prideful, and he didn't want to admit he was wrong. And it was the fact that he was scared of a serious relationship. Wally was one of his best friends and Dick knew that he was head over heels for the speedster. Dick had never really felt like this before and that scared him. People who got close to heroes got hurt. And yes, he knew that Wally was a criminal and therefore had less of a worry. And he knew that Wally could take care of himself. That didn't mean that he wasn't scared.

Still, it wasn't fair to be hurting Wally and hurting himself like this. He'd agreed with Wally to give this a chance and then he'd gone and given up on it. Well, Dick firmly believed that he had done the right thing and that their relationship –  _if_  it continued – would be stronger than it was before. This was a necessary step to their relationship. It sucked, and it hurt, but they got through it.

Hopefully they would get through it.


	6. Chapter 6

DDDDDD

"What did I tell you, man?" Wally's voice filtered from one of the seats further out on the terrace. Dick followed it, helpless to resist that voice. As Dick got closer, he realized that Wally was speaking into a phone, "You did great on your latest job! It's fun to work with these guys, right? Although, your solo was awesome, too." He paused again before laughing, light filtering over the column of his pale throat, "Cam, you do  _not_  want to try to do a run with Aunt Lisa. Trust me when I say you need to spend a whole lot more time with the family's crazy to  _ever_  want to do something with her. Hah, no. What do you mean? Nah, man." He nodded, running a hand through his hair.

As if it was a signal, Dick's attention was brought to Wally's apparently new look. His hair was shorn at the sides, raging like an inferno over the top of his head, curls still irrepressible. A leather bracelet tucked itself against Wally's wrist, disappearing into a baggy Flash hoodie when he lowered his wrist. Wally's jeans were distressed, showing off flashes of pale skin, and they were  _tight_ , probably tighter than they should be. He had on red converse with little peaks of his favourite physics socks shining through as he restlessly shifted his ankles. His eyes were scanning out over the river the restaurant bordered, the hand that had been in his hair going to fiddle with his ear for a moment before jerking his hand back, grimacing a little bit. A glint of light showed Dick what it was that Wally had been messing with. An earring. Wally had gotten an  _earring_. Scratch that, Wally had gotten  _both ears pierced_.

Dick made a wordless sound that was somewhere between wonder, frustration, awe, confusion, shock, and a hint of lust to balance it all out.

The waiter who'd been leading Dick to Wally's table glanced back in concern for a moment before he caught sight of the person lounging at the table they were heading to. The waiter smirked at Dick. Dick resisted the urge to glare at him only because he knew that the waiter wouldn't be able to see it through Dick's dark sunglasses.

But, nevertheless, the waiter made his way past the other patrons and ever closer to Wally. Dick could feel his mouth dry as he got closer, nerves begging him to turn around and leave while he still had a chance, while Wally had yet to spot him. Wally laughed at something, a little smirk curling up one corner of his mouth, "I'm sure. Tell him I said that, yeah? I've got to go. Knowing Freddie, he's pretty early to stuff. Yeah. Sure. See you." He put the phone into one hoodie pocket, focusing all his attention onto the river.

Watching him there, river water providing a backdrop for his wild, untameable red hair, a contrast for his sharp, brilliant emerald eyes, Dick marvelled at the fact that he was ever able to let this go.

The waiter cleared his throat and Wally's eyes jumped over to them, eyes still sharp, but no longer sharp in a purely beautiful way; there was danger there, too. Danger that reminded Dick exactly why he'd let this go. But also why he was going to give this another chance.

The sharpness faded, replaced with a sort of boundless nervous energy that took away any edge that Wally might have carried, smoothing him out into any normal guy, trying to get back with his boyfriend.

The waiter pulled out a chair for Dick, indicating the menu and dictating the day's specials. He took the order for Dick's drink before making a small bow and heading back into the restaurant proper. He was smirking the entire time.

"It might just be the withdrawal speaking for me, but you're looking more gorgeous than usual," Wally sent him a roguish grin, the joy not quite making it past the wary, braced look in his eyes.

Dick rolled his eyes, "How long did it take you to come up with that line?"

"Longer than it probably should have. I've been out of practice," Wally answered honestly, leaning forward in his seat. He didn't say anything else, letting Dick dictate the next move.

Breathing carefully through his nose, Dick attempted to comment idly, "You got earrings."

He'd thought that Wally would make some comment about them being fake, or he'd make some comment about it making him look hotter, but instead Wally leaned back a little bit and rolled his eyes, "I was blackmailed into it. See this bracelet?" He extended his arm out, showing off the Momentum bracelet that Dick had gotten a glimpse of earlier. Dick almost grabbed the hand out of reflex, but other than a slight twitch in his arm, didn't act on that reflex. Wally's eyes tracked the movement, but he didn't say anything about that, "I really, really wanted it, but Aunt Lisa knew that Len would be mad, so she said she'd only get it for me if I got my ears pierced. I will admit that I kind of like them, though." He suddenly dipped his head a little bit, looking up through his lashes at Dick, "Do you like them?" And  _there_  was the Wally that Dick knew.

Unwillingly, Dick felt his lips tip upwards into a tiny, reluctant smile. That smile caused a light to flare in Wally's eyes, joy finally pushing up into those emerald windows and lighting them up from within. Dick attempted to wrangle his face into a more neutral position, and shrugged nonchalantly, "I don't really know. They're kind of tacky."

Wally's lips turned even further upwards, the challenge twisting the grin on his face into a smirk, "I thought you liked tacky. I mean… that outfit you first started out with? Makes people think you appreciate tacky."

"That outfit was one my parents designed," Dick blurted out. He was feeling brave, feeling nostalgic. He wanted this relationship to work  _so much_. He wanted Wally  _so much_. And how could he ever ask something of Wally without giving something in return?

Wally blinked a little bit, "Oh, um, sorry?" He looked completely wrong-footed.

Dick laughed shortly, ducking his head momentarily, "It's fine. Trust me, I know it was tacky. Why do you think I changed it? I just… I don't know. Figured that you might want to know. Or, er, not that you would want to know, but, like, you know. It's something about – about me. You know."

Wally blinked again, "Yeah, uh, yeah. That's…" He trailed off and Dick frowned, upset that he had managed to break the moment so thoroughly. Then Wally brightened and spoke with a lot more confidence, "I'm glad you could trust me with that. It means a lot."

Then he gave a bright little smile, the one that Dick loved the best. It was so… so new and soft and it crinkled the corners of Wally's eyes and wrinkled his nose and brightened his entire face. Since Wally's default facial expression was a scowl, seeing a smile so innocent and beautiful was so refreshing and perfect. It was that smile that originally made Dick think that they could get past the hero and villain thing.

The waiter came back with their drinks before either of them could say something else. He took their orders and sent Dick a wink. Dick responded with a withering glare, but it was hindered by the fact that no one could see it through the sunglasses.

Wally was watching the interaction with clear amusement, lounging back in his chair (and from this angle, Dick could see that Wally's jacket was unzipped and he was wearing a sinfully tight shirt), "Is our waiter flirting with you?"

"I think he actually ships us, honestly," Dick gave a long-suffering sigh.

"There seems to be quite a few people who are shipping up," Wally grimaced, absently twisting his bracelet around his wrist.

Dick grimaced back, "Did you know that Golden Glider and Catwoman have been on a first name basis since the Rogues got Trickster?"

Raising his eyebrows, Wally asked sarcastically, "You do realize that all of them have names, right?"

Dick flushed, "Wasn't sure if you knew who Catwoman was. Felt weird to only call her by a codename." Wally's lips remained twisted down and Dick continued, "Look, it's not that big of a deal, okay? I don't want to fight about this."

"I didn't think this was a fight," Wally said mildly, but his eyes were sharp on Dick's face, "I just thought that you'd come here so we could try to get our relationship to work again, but you can't even call my aunt by her given name. I get that you don't like villains because we're all horrible monsters or whatever, but the least you could do it call us by our names."

"It's not that I don't respect you or whatever it is you're getting at," Dick started.

He was interrupted by Wally's harsh laugh (the one he hated most, the one that reminded Dick that Wally had been abused and then experimented on and then left to try to live alone on the streets), "Are you saying you do respect me?"

Dick's brows furrowed, "Of course I do!"

"So you respect me enough to let me do my job? To keep our work and our relationship separate?" Wally pressed.

Dick's shoulders started to rise around his ears, "I'm sorry, I thought you were trying to get my attention with all those heists? I thought you wanted this to work as much as I did! Why are you sitting here and attacking me?"

Jaw clenched, Wally's eyes flashed, "Why do you think I'm asking these questions? I'm not attacking you! I'm just making sure that something's changed. You left me because of how you feel about what I do for a living! What's changed? If nothing's changed, then how can I trust that you aren't going to do the exact same thing you did a couple of weeks ago?"

"You don't trust me?" Dick said, voice quieting. He was genuinely hurt. They'd been talking almost every day for months, had been friends long before the super world intervened, before they knew the truth of each other.

Jaw still clenched, Wally shot back, "I don't trust easily. You know that. And you haven't really given me much reason to trust you either."

"Haven't – haven't given  _you_  much reason to trust?" Dick spluttered, hand going to his chest unironically.

"Are you serious?" Wally questioned incredulously, "You broke up with me for the stupidest reason! Literally everyone agrees with me!"

"Not everyone!" Dick whisper-shouted, flapping his arm around dramatically.

Leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest, Wally asked, "Who? Name one person who agrees with  _you_?"

Dick leaned back too, resisting the urge to cross his own arms over his chest, "Batman."

Rolling his eyes, Wally said, "Selina says that Batman has been avoiding you so he doesn't have to talk to you about feelings. You don't have a clue how he feels about it."

Dick opened his mouth to disagree before blinking. That was… actually exactly what he himself had been thinking about it. After a second, he snorted. Wally gave him a small, hesitant smile and Dick grinned, actually laughing. Wally smiled a little brighter and they fell into giggles as the waiter finally brought the food.

They finally trailed off into a gentler mood, the laughing dying down as they started to dig into their food. After another more comfortable moment, Wally grimaced apologetically around his food, "So, I'm going to be real honest here and say that Aunt Lisa and Selina had given me a list of things to say. Selina was… scarily good at predicting what you were going to say because you stuck right on script."

Dick paused, swallowing, before admitting, "Selina scares me."

"You haven't seen Selina and Aunt Lisa working together.  _That's_  terror," Wally frowned, a comical expression of horror crossing his face.

Dick fidgeted, "So, uh, so did you really mean what you said about not trusting me?"

Wally twitched, and Dick felt his heart sink. Wally hesitated before sighing, "I don't know, Freddie." Dick flinched at the name but didn't otherwise comment. Wally continued, "I can't really say that I remember a time when I  _did_  trust someone. It's… it's hard. I've told some people that I trust them, but… it's theoretical. I don't  _know_  if I trust people because I don't know what trust feels like."

Dick took another bite of his food before swallowing again, allowing him a chance to think before he answered, "Trust is being able to know that someone will catch you if you fall, to know that you can call them whenever you need to, and they'll answer and be there for you. It's knowing that you can tell them anything, that you have told them everything and they still don't judge you. It's being able to put your everything on someone's shoulders and know that they can handle the weight and save you in the process."

"So you don't trust me," Wally said.

Dick jolted, almost dropping his fork, "I – what?"

"You haven't told me everything knowing that I won't judge you," Wally said, voice even and controlled, no judgement, no accusation.

Biting his lip, Dick tried to get back to his meal, "That's not just my secret to tell."

Wally sighed, "I know, Freddie. I just…I'm fine with this. I told you that when we started. I'm just trying to answer your question on whether or not I trust you. Okay? I'm fine with you waiting to tell me more about yourself. I'm fine with letting you keep your secrets, keep others' secrets. Can you be okay with letting me be me?"

For a long moment, the two of them just stared at each other. Dick memorized the look of Wally's eyes, the mesmerizing appearance of them, the bright colour that Dick had never seen anywhere else. He looked at Wally and saw how beautiful he was, how perfect. He saw the traumatised child and the teenager just trying to find a place in the world that had rejected him so many times. Dick saw someone who might very well become the love of his life.

So, he reached his hand out and twined his fingers in with Wally's, "Yes. Yes, I can."

And they kissed.

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to put the date in this chapter, but then the lead up ended up being so long and I wasn't sure who's POV I wanted it in, so I just decided that would be next chapter. So, for updates? It won't be every week – most likely. I'm going to try to update as often as possible, but I'm focusing most of my efforts on 'The Circus' instead. The aim for this story is to fill in the time between chapter 65 of 'Rogue's Status' and the epilogue. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that before I start working on the sequel. We'll see.


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